Capital Q Still Smokin’ After Two Years

March 26, 2010

by Abbey Bull

ALBANY— Nestled among college apartments at 329 Ontario St. in Albany is a small eatery with big southern hospitality. Operating an institution that relies heavily on word-of-mouth advertisement has been both challenging and rewarding for Capital Q Smokehouse owner and manager Sean Custer.

“Some people call it barbeque, some people call it home cooking and some people call it soul food. It’s just what I grew up eating,” said Custer. “It’s not life or death, it’s just smoked meat.”

That product, though, is what has sustained the business since September of 2007 when Custer

opened shop. Capital Q offers it by the piece, the pound, the plate and even the bun, living by the motto “Cooked Slow, Served Fast.” Voted Metroland’s best barbeque in the Capital Region two years running, the staff serves up everything from brisket, ribs, and pulled pork, to chicken, sirloin and even fish fries, all the while using different regional sauces and rubs.

“It’s really incredible all the great barbeque you can find in this country,” said Custer who was born in New York and raised in Oklahoma. He finds it amazing how many varieties can be found across the country and realizes people grow up thinking their barbeque is the best while it’s simply, different. His favorite menu items are the sliced beef brisket sandwich and the chicken fried steak. There’s no shortage of side dishes either and the newest addition, called croakers, are deep fried balls of mashed potatoes with scallions, bacon and cheddar cheese.

Custer remembers his first outstanding experience with the cuisine he would later create at Capital Q. It was at Wilson’s BBQ in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he was just 17 – the first time he had “awesome barbeque.” After years of cooking his way through high school and college, majoring in liberal education at The University of Oklahoma, Custer ended up in New York City and abandoned his plans for law school. He got a job at the Doral Tuscany Hotel and finished his culinary education at the New York Restaurant School.

He meandered his way through positions at several luxury hotels in the city where he was often told by French chefs that there is no such thing as American cuisine. Tired of hearing that anything he prepared was “diner quality at best,” he made sure to impress one particular chef by whipping up a smoked barbeque duck dish with collard greens. The dish made the menu and Custer made his way up the ranks.

From there he landed the role of beach chef in Rye at the Westchester Country Club. This is where he began experimenting with barbeque and in addition to the hamburgers and hot dogs served regularly, he cooked ribs and smoked lobsters. He then moved north to Albany where he worked as a catering chef for Classé Catering for two years. Custer remembered the conversations he had with fellow chefs in the city about what kind of restaurant they would open when the time was right. He decided it was time to embark on his dream of owning a barbeque pit.

He began shopping around in Albany and found a small building on Ontario Street, perfect for the sole fact it had three walk-in refrigerators and a smoker. The building was formerly Meister’s Meat Market and had served the Pine Hills neighborhood for 75 years. He never went to a bank and with the help of family and friends, his dream took shape. Starting a business on a shoe string came with the expected obstacles but after about a year’ s worth of renovations, a lot of which he did himself, he opened Capital Q.

Most everything at Capital Q is made from scratch. Custer even toyed with with idea of home made ketchup but later decided Heinz did an acceptable job. “Some of the best barbeque in the country comes from shacks with dirt floors,” he said. Capital Q boasts a spotless front service area that customers compliment regularly and a truck (purchased in June) that makes trips during the summer to the Empire State plaza Monday through Friday. This welcome addition to the crew also travels to the Farmer’s Market on Central and Quail, the Troy Pig Out and even helps to cater weddings.

The truck will begin its daily plaza trips on the first Monday in May and will continue to do so until about October. In the meantime, the truck heads out just once a week to a small office plaza in Albany. “It’s a big part of the business,” said Custer of the truck. “It’s very good advertising for me. It’s a lot of fun.”

He notices when the college kids are in town, and when they aren’t, not only because of their business, but because when they are here, he can expect to spend some of the weekend picking up the litter left behind by the partying crowd. He rents the apartment upstairs to students but said students account for only 30% of his customers. The rest are varied and include men in suits, doctors, blue collar workers and senior citizens, because, “everybody loves barbeque.”

Capital Q is an ever-evolving institution, said employee Jordan Mortman. While barbequed meat is their central force, “Sean is very fair, very easy-going and pretty open-minded. He’ll try new recipes even if they aren’t southern, ” said the 26-year-old Long Island native.

For example, Sarah Cooper, the 23- year-old kitchen manager from Cohoes, was put to the test when she accidentally ordered way too many jalapeños while the boss was in Germany. “I was basically trying to get rid of them before he came back,” she explained, and as a result, the jalapeño macaroni and cheese was invented and added to the menu. Custer said he was proud of Sarah when he returned. She declared it her favorite menu item.

Cooper started out as the dishwasher and admits she couldn’t cook before she was hired. “All of it was pretty challenging. Everything’s made from scratch,” she said, adding that Sean is a good teacher and now thinks she “could do it with her eyes closed.” And her boyfriend loves her new talent. She plans on working there as long as possible.

When Mortman, who is finishing up grad school at nearby Sage, first saw the building being opened he thought the place looked pretty cool and when asked if he wanted a job, he was quick to say yes. The customers are definitely his favorite part of the job. “They’re so nice. I know it’s cheesy to say but it’s barbeque! Everyone is so happy when they come in!”

Both employees see big things for the future of the restaurant and agree that the job is great because working with good food and good people is hardly a challenge. “Basically, we might be off the beaten path—we’re not on Madison, but it’s worth the trip,” Mortman promised. He feels Capital Q really has a special thing going on and he wants people to see and hear that.

While Custer’s initial plans to expand the restaurant relatively quickly have been put on hold because the “financial atmosphere right now isn’t too conducive,” that doesn’t mean there won’t one day be a Capital Q road house with a sit-down restaurant and bar. For now he will focus on keeping the doors to the Ontario Street location open. And if there is one thing he would like customers to take away from their experience at the smokehouse it would be “lots of menus to hand out to friends and neighbors!”

Capital Q’s front counter. (Abbey Bull)

This summer The Capital Q Mobile Barbeque Assault Team and its truck will travel to Kinderhook where they will cater the Ninth Annual “Olde ‘Toga” Muster at the House of History. The event is put on by The Olde Saratoga Fyfe and Drum Corp and will go down on June 5. “We’re there to vend to hungry fifers and drummers and the public,” said Custer. “We’re also doing a dinner for the musicians.”

Why go to the Olive Garden when you have Lombardos? Why go to Taco Bell when you have El Mariachi? These are questions that plague Custer. “I always encourage people to patronize small restaurants,” he said, “The whole Wolf Road thing is one chain after another.” He feels, especially in this economy, that it makes a big difference to a small business owner if even a few more customers walk through their doors daily. “It’s money that stays in the community,” he said.